Mac Baren Mixture: Scottish Blend

One of the first things you notice about Mixture is the quality of the components - a wonderful ready-rubbed Virginia and Burley mix, loose cut Cavendish, and loose Virginia. I only wish more blenders would take a lesson from this: the tobacco is of the absolute highest quality. As to the flavoring, it's mild, pleasant, and changes a good deal.

This is one of the founding fathers of Danish aromatics, and one of the best examples still.

Je fume la pipe depuis 12ans. mixture scottish blend est un tabac journalier merveilleux qui est mon tabac numéro 1 depuis tres longtemps de part sa richesse et sa facilité ,un tabac subtilement aromatique au goût miellé avec une odeur de thé ....Virginie Macbaren , au gout de tabac doux et naturel .Je recommande fortement se grand tabac meilleur en 100,ou 250 grammes .

This is my absolute favorite blend. I love it for it's balance of flavor, strength, and sweetness. The aroma is great like honey toast. If you smoke this gently it rewards you with one of the most pleasant smokes. It always suprises, sometimes it's sweet, sometimes nutty, sometimes spicy and sometimes all the above. Smokes dry and cool. I love it.

I'm glad I've smoked over 60 blends before I decided to try this one. In the past I became somewhat of an aged Va pipe tobacco snob and probably would have gave this a "boring mild blend" review. Experience really matters.

This is a great blend. Mac Baren's description of different Virginia tobaccos resulting in different flavors at different times rings true. It's a mild to Medium blend and has a wonderful sweet va med body flavor that rotates. The tin smell as well as the room note is a divine smell of raisins and is quite tasty to boot. This tobacco is a great all around smoke. I like it when traveling in the car and when I'm working in the yard. But it's deep enough and complex enough to enjoy on the porch for a longer smoke with a fine drink or when you are grilling out. A true Va aficionadio or seasoned pipe smoker will enjoy this one. It hasn't been a leading blend since 1958 for nothing. Smoke it up!

I first started to smoke this blend in the mid 70's after a few months of smoking Borkum Riff whisky. This was much better and I would have sworn it was not an aromatic blend. It became pretty much my primary tobacco for a number of years and only when I had moved away from University (actually could buy this in large cans at the University bookstore) and could not seem to find it where I was that I tried Mac's V#1 and due to its easy availability and the slight sour citrus flavour that reminded me so much of Mac's Scottish blend became my go to tobacco. Now, some 35 years later I have returned to Mac's Scottish blend once I discovered it is readily available via P&C. The current rendition is not quite the same as I recalled the blend - either some changes to composition, topping, or more likely the inaccuracy of my memory. I still am very hard put to call this an aromatic as whatever top dressing there may be has been applied with a very expert hand as it does not overwhelm the fine, yet subtle, tobacco flavours present in this mixture. Intermittent hits of sweetness, some heavier notes, a slightly sour citrus, all these flavours and more grace every pipe load. It seems to smoke easily with only one or two relights required to finish a large bowl. The ash is somewhat mottled while predominantly producing a fine white ash. Like V#1 it is best smoked slowly to get the multiple nuances of the complex blend and to avoid the tongue bite that many Macbaren blends reward (punish) vigorous puffing with. Unlike some of the VaPer blends I have been smoking this can be smoked all day without one ever being overwhelmed by the peppery aspects of the perique in those offerings. The only negative is that when you have finished a bowl it is difficult to resist having another one right away. I believe two things contribute to this conundrum; one it really has a real kaleidoscope of subtle flavours and a relatively mild amount of nicotine both of which might make you want more. I highly recommend this to both the novice, as it is so much better than the vast majority of aromatics as to be a nice bridge to non-aromatic blends, and to the diehard smokers of non-aromatic virginia based offerings as a delightful change of pace.

One of the pipe worlds most best loved stalwarts, in fact I remember when this was sold at my local co-op, yes, Scottish blend was an otc, about 25 years ago, unfortunately I wasn't a 5 year old pipe smoker.

Anyways that's the anecdotes out of the way, i must say though Scottish blend is the biggest chameleon I have ever came across.

opening the pouch, you are greeted with mostly beautifully light chunky golden broken flakes speckled with darker tobaccos and loose cut Cavendish.

Aroma straight away, is almost like honeyed lavender, a nice chocolatey/hazelnut wisp here and there and a slight fruity over tone, a little cinnamon like spice and some nice hints of fresh Virginia.

packing is a doddle, whether you choose to rub out or pack as is, it won't give too much trouble.

lighting is also just as easy then settle back and enjoy the myriad of flavours that come to the fore, some are fleeting visits others hang around a touch longer.

during the smoke I get sweetness, wildness, hints of leather, that honey slightly floral taste, fleeting visits from citrus fruits, some nice chocolatey burley, grassy/hay like Virginia notes along with a host of others.

performs well in any pipe you put it in although I find narrow and wider chambered pipes work best personally.

Now anyone reading this would be forgiven for thinking that with all these nuances that it would just end up as a convoluted mess, but somehow, Mac baren have made it work superbly. It is a delight to smoke from start to finish and when finished, you are left with that fabled "fine white ash.

it's a tobacco I have skirted round for a good number of years and finally plucked up the courage to try it. Boy am I glad I did.

oh and room is one of the nicest I have encountered, shouldn't offend the majority although it may raise an eyebrow with ardent none smokers.

As a side note I would not recommend to the total novice, as fast puffing will lead to tongue bite, gain a little experience and when you can sit back and savour a fine tobacco with the correct cadence then you will enjoy this and savour it whole heartedly.

4 stars easily earned and already looking at buying a 5 pack.

Another classic Dane by Mac Baren.

The tin note has indeed some honeyish qualities (I wouldn't know how to decribe it otherwise) as well as a subtle alcoholic note (due to German government information, 5mg of rum are used for 1000mg of tobacco).

Loosely packed (esp. bacause it's nearly a ready rubbed tobacco) and smoked VERY carefully, the aroma can be enjoyed during the whole smoke. The tobacco can burn slow and cool but smokes hot quite easily (to then transform into a fierce Tongue Gremlin).

The taste is round and just nice, without any particular aromas to be detected. On the other hand it is also complex, with changes from grassy undertones to almost earthy qualities to the end. All the time it keeps a dominant sweetness, also in the roomnote, which is not really a crowd pleaser but also nothing to get banned to the balcony.

I recommend to smoke it without a filter, with a 9mm charcoal filter it tastes strange to say the least.

To be honest, I don't know exactly why I like this tobacco so much, and why I keep buying it. It just finds its way into a pipe almost by its own, almost as if it sneaks into the bowl.

I enjoy every smoke, every time of the day every time of the year. And then, suddenly and by surprise, the tin is empty again and I hadn't noticed that I did smoke it so often. I then think I will lay of a bit and after e.g. a visit to a gas station or after buying grocerys I spontaneously buy another tin and the same begins all over again.

This is a very tasty blend that reminds me of eating warm wheat toast with butter and honey. This blend does not produce billowing clouds of smoke, but rewards the smoker with small, fragrant wisps.

The wife likes the room note more than any other aromatic tobacco I've smoked. She says it has a distinctive incense-like aroma. Despite the room-note, I only detect a very pleasant tobacco flavor.

Smoke this blend slowly, as it will bite if pushed. However, with good technique, this blend can be enjoyed all day.

A staple blend for me. Golden virginias and some cavendish on a fairly coarse cut offer you a pleasant smell from tin cracking. It does smell like honey and maple for me... It packs well, lights and burns well. Must be savoured slowly to produce a profound relaxing taste and aroma. Puffing hard will over heat and make it lose the best of its flavour profile. It gives good tingling on retrohale and it is a very satisfying smoke. It gets better towards the end of the bowl. I like to smoek this one on larger and thicker walled bowls. It is certainly a pipe tobacco that stood to its time given the greatness of the achieved blend.